The present invention is intended for use in the sport of Rock Climbing. In particular, this invention relates to an electronic lighting, sensing, and control system that lights up handholds dynamically to create new routes, and to record the climbing of these routes. The sport of rock climbing involves the ascension of routes on an artificial wall, usually mimicking a natural rock face, through the placement of handholds. These handholds come in a number of configurations and are placed to create a route of specific difficulty.
At present most installations contain a large number of handholds with specific designators, such as colored tape, that allow for specific routes to be shown on a wall with only a chosen set of handholds. A number of routes may be simultaneously present on a given wall, with the climbers only using a designated set. Difficulties with this implementation include the inability to enforce restriction on movement to a single route as well as the degradation of the marking mechanisms through continued use.
A difficulty facing businesses providing rock climbing facilities is that on a given wall a limited space for routes is available. There is a question as to the balance of difficulty in the routes that are placed on a given wall. A balance must be struck for routes that are for beginners as well as for experts. Furthermore, frequent climbers at a given facility can exhaust the supply of routes. Changing routes is a time consuming and expensive process, providing one of the largest operational costs of the facility.
The rock climbing sport has a competitive aspect, with competitions available that grade climbers on a number of factors. Among these are speed and difficulty. Speed competitions require climbers to climb a designated route as quickly as possible. Difficulty competitions require climbers to ascend a route as far as possible. Each is currently judged by a panel of referees.